Alabama’s tornadoes shake historic civil rights communities
Zakiya Sankara-Jabar’s cellphone buzzed relentlessly as a deadly storm system that spawned tornadoes throughout the U.S. South laid waste to relatives’ homes and churches across a part of Alabama known as the Black Belt.
Text messages and phone calls, some of them hilarious, provided devastating updates on Thursday’s storms which ravaged her home county of Dallas County, including Selma’s history-torn streets.
The homes of the families who lived in the city that was synonymous with civil rights movements were damaged but structurally sound. It was nearly impossible to imagine the extent of the damage that Sankara Jabar suffered in Beloit, an unincorporated community near her home.
“I have family who lost everything,” she said Friday. “My great-aunt’s house was leveled. I saw pictures and it’s like the house was never even there.”
This area of Alabama has been home to the Sankara-Jabar family for many generations. Black Belt takes its name from the region’s rich, dark soil. This area is well-acquainted with economic and social hardship. Many of the civil rights movement’s most important struggles took place in the area, including “Bloody Sunday,” when nearly 58 years ago state troopers and deputized klansmen viciously attacked Black people marching nonviolently for voting rights across Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Selma, Dallas County, and other communities have welcomed hundreds to thousands back to their streets every year since that march. They also welcome tourists, activists, politicians, and political footsoldiers who cross the Pettus Bridge to remember the sacrifices of those who gave their lives for democracy. The Black Belt, a working class region that struggles with drug addiction and gun violence, continues to exist after the annual celebration. It is much the same as many U.S. communities but with far fewer resources.
Dallas County includes Selma. It is home to approximately 37,600 residents, 71% Black and 27% White. Nearly one third of the county’s residents live in poverty. The median household income for the county is $35,000
“These are people who are not poor in spirit, but poor financially,” said Sankara-Jabar, a racial justice activist who now lives just outside of Washington, D.C. “Losing everything for somebody who was already working class and already poor financially is devastating.”
Thursday’s storm inflicted heavy damage on Selma, cutting a wide path through the downtown area, where brick buildings collapsed, oak trees were uprooted, cars were tossed onto their sides and power lines were left dangling. Selma officials confirmed that there were no deaths, but several people sustained serious injuries.
It is known for its historical sites, such as Pettus Bridge, which commemorates the Selma–to-Montgomery march; Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Southern Christian Leadership Conference worked alongside local activists during Selma; Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church, where the Rev.
“We ask that people keep Selma in their hearts right now, because it is the communities of color that have suffered the most in this particular storm,” said Felecia Pettway, a member of the voting rights museum’s board of directors. “We are really concerned about what happens next.”
Pettway is also the development director for Legal Services Alabama. The organization offers free civil legal advocacy to low-income residents. The organization’s Selma office was damaged in the tornado.
It is not hyperbole to consider Selma’s downtown district hallowed ground. It’s the place from which the late Amelia Boynton RobinsonKing, who was a Selma voter rights strategist and civil right movement matriarch, was persuaded by King to become involved in the movement in the hope that he would help nationalize voting rights. It’s where the late Georgia congressman and voting rights icon John Lewis He was nearly killed by state troopers when he crossed over the Pettus Bridge in March 1965.
It’s also where the first Black president And the first Black vice president They have paid tribute to the civil rights movement that made their ascension to the highest office possible.
The downtown will look like a large street festival when the tens of thousands expected to attend the annual Selma Bridge Cross Jubilee in March. The streets will be filled with music and vendors selling T-shirts, food and other memorabilia.
However, the high crime rates, pothole-covered streets and abandoned homes of Selma, which is known for its voting rights struggle, will not disappear. It will be up to the city known for its voting rights struggles to address it. sagging voter turnout.
The community and surrounding areas in Dallas County will undoubtedly continue to rebuild and clean up after Thursday’s tornadoes.
“The community needs an infusion of support,” said Adia Winfrey, executive director of Transform Alabama, a nonprofit that promotes civic engagement and voter participation, and a member of the Black Southern Women’s Collaborative.
Winfrey noted that Alabama’s entire Black Belt, not just Selma has many needs. From water, sewage and educational infrastructure to childcare, parental support and activities for young people, the area isn’t getting enough funding to make progress faster.
“There are great people doing great work, but their capacity is limited,” said Winfrey, who is also board secretary for the Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee.
She said that the Jubilee is a deeply held community tradition and provides some economic stimulation.
“People just come for the photo op or the experience and don’t really leave anything,” Winfrey said. “And that is partially what Selma is missing. How do we leverage the excitement about jubilee and interest in the history of Selma, to bring the resources to Selma?”
Sankara Jabar expressed frustration Friday with the apparent lack of urgency by the state leadership to provide shelter and relief to Black Belt residents affected. Friends reached out to Sankara Jabar asking for donations to help her family. She then took to Twitter to tweet Republican Gov. Kay Ivey.
“Ma’am with respect what are you doing?? I have family in Dallas County that have lost everything,” she wrote. “You are missing in action.”
Ivey did send a tweet after Sankara-Jabar’s plea, but not as a direct response.
“I just got off the phone with (President Joe Biden) following my visits to Dallas and Autauga Counties,” the governor tweeted. “I have asked him to expedite a major disaster declaration for Alabama. He assured me that he would approve the declaration as soon as it was received. We are truly grateful!”
Sankara Jabar stated that she will be watching how her state distributes emergency relief funds.
“I want to make sure that the state government of Alabama, which is controlled by Republicans, does right by the Black Belt, when the cameras are gone and when the news is not there anymore,” she said choking up with tears.
“When those federal dollars come through for my family and everybody that lives in the Black Belt, those dollars need to go where they need to be.”
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Kim Chandler and Sharon Johnson, both Associated Press reporters, contributed from Selma (Alabama). Aaron Morrison is a New York City-based member of the AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. Follow him on twitter: https://www.twitter.com/aaronlmorrison.